AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Sept. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IBC -- Rovi Corporation (Nasdaq:ROVI), driving digital entertainment innovation, today announced a new MainConcept® codec SDK for the soon-to-be ratified High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC). Expected to provide 100% more compression efficiency than its predecessor H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC will help decrease file size and reduce bandwidth required for streaming or downloading video to tablets, smart phones, set-top boxes (STBs) and consumer electronics devices. HEVC will also be a key component in the move in the television market from HD to 4K resolution in the years ahead.
Rovi's new codec SDK will enable developers serving the broadcast, professional content creation, mobile and consumer industries to quickly integrate the HEVC standard, and dramatically increase the ease with which high quality video content is delivered through existing cable pipeline, internet and wireless channels. The ability to save approximately 50% of the bandwidth without sacrificing quality provides a powerful incentive for both service providers and consumers to adopt the new standard.
The use of mobile and personal devices for the enjoyment of digital entertainment is on the rise. According to industry analyst firm, Informa, mobile phone users will, in 2016, on average consume 6.5 times as much video as in 2011. The firm estimates that global mobile data traffic will grow from 3.89 trillion megabytes in 2011 to 39.75 trillion megabytes in 2016, amounting to a tenfold increase.
In addition, in the home, entertainment content services are now expected to be able to deliver content on multiple devices, allow consumers to seamlessly transition from one device to another, and launch multiple services at once. Separately, as the market moves towards 4K resolution, the current codec standard will be insufficient for the streaming and downloading of content for these higher quality devices. These current and future use cases confirm the requirement for more efficient video codec technology to meet the needs for increased file size and content consumption.
"Consumers expect content to be in its best format on every device that has a quality display. The addition of a new encoder for HEVC builds upon Rovi's longstanding tradition of providing leading-edge codec technology to our customers through the MainConcept product line," said Matt Milne, EVP of product, sales and marketing for Rovi. "The new MainConcept SDK is an extension of Rovi's continued development for solutions, such as Rovi Entertainment Store, DivX Plus Streaming, Rovi Content Production tools and others, that promote high quality entertainment consumption."
An industry leader in encoding technology, Rovi's MainConcept SDKs have enabled the entertainment ecosystem of content producers, network operators, cable providers and broadcasters to optimize the quality of video and audio files for many of the most popular applications in the market today. Rovi recently announced that Microsoft has licensed use of its MainConcept H.264 video codec and SDK for its Azure Cloud Services. Rovi's MainConcept SDKs provide developers with a powerful suite of encoding, decoding, formatting, and streaming technologies for video and audio content with exceptionally high quality at low bit rates.
The MainConcept SDK provides a common API across multiple formats that enable developers to quickly add multiple MainConcept codecs and streaming technologies into their existing digital media products and workflows. Offering high-quality encoding with support for the latest processors, operating systems, and major international codec standards, the MainConcept SDK is a one-stop shop for developers that want to save time and money and be fast to market. For a complete overview of Rovi's MainConcept software development kits for adding audio and video encoding, decoding, transcoding, and streaming to a range of applications visit: http://www.mainconcept.com/.
Rovi will have a production ready version of its HEVC codec following official ratification of the standard, in early 2013. The product will include a new encoder, decoder, and transport multiplexer for various platforms including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS and Android. Rovi will be demonstrating the new HEVC SDK encoder in its booth (Hall 5, Stand 5.A31) at IBC 2012.
About Rovi Corporation
Rovi powers the discovery, delivery, display and monetization of digital entertainment. With innovative technology solutions for consumer electronics manufacturers, service providers, content producers, advertisers, retailers and websites, Rovi connects people and the entertainment they love. The company holds approximately 5,200 issued or pending patents worldwide and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. More information about Rovi can be found at rovicorp.com.
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Forward Looking Statements
All statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements that use the words "will" or "is expected to," or similar words that describe the Company's or its management's future plans, objectives, or goals, are "forward-looking statements" and are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results and/or from any future results or outcomes expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors are further addressed in the Company's most recent report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2012 and such other documents as are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time (available at www.sec.gov). The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release, except as required by law.